
| Footwork, Part V: The Back Step |
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In this part, we examine the fifth movement: the back step. You use this movement if you have been drawn into no-man's-land and then must recover to the baseline. The player in the video is in the observation stage and so must face her opponent to determine her next move. She first combines a sidestep with a back step and then transitions to a full back step. Following this, she determines the direction of the ball and enters the adjustment stage.
The back step can be difficult to execute at first, and you must be careful not to stump your heel and fall backward. The heel must be lifted first. The back step is similar to the moon walk, which is a good first approximation that is safer than beginning with the back step on the court. Caution: If you are working with young children, you must stand behind them to guard against their falling backward. Children get very excited about doing this and often trip. As with the previous footwork videos, this video shows that efficient footwork is, in part, the art of combining multiple movements into one effort (in this case, combining the sidestep with the back step), rather than executing them sequentially.
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